An Analysis of the Impact of the 2004 Pension Policy on the Welfare of the Nigerian Civil Servants: A Case Study of Selected Federal Ministries

Abstract

Many countries today are facing crises in their pension systems due to both fiscal and demographic problems. Some aspects of these crises are due to the structure of the pension systems themselves, but others are due to that constellation of phenomena variously known as neoliberalism, globalization, or free market reforms. Most countries have responded to such crises either by reforming their existing public pension system, by privatizing it, or a combination of these strategies. Some countries like Nigeria have adopted a third approach to pension reform, by creating Defined Contribution scheme in 2004 by President Olusegun Obasanjo to deal with pension crisis as a result of the fact that government cannot sustain the former Defined benefit system. The main focus of the study is to examine the impact of the new pension policy and how it improves the living standard of the retired and serving civil servants in Nigeria. To successfully accomplish this task, the data for this research were collected through questionnaire using random sampling technique on one thousand five hundred respondents from five federal ministries in Abuja. The analysis was carried out using simple percentage. From the analysis, findings emerged which clearly indicates that the implementation of the new pension significantly improves the welfare of the civil servants but does not address the problem of corruption and inadequate budgetary allocation and therefore not effective in overcoming the problems of retirees in Nigeria. In view of the above findings, the study recommended among others that government and Pension Commission must strengthen monitoring and supervision unit of the commission to ensure effective monitoring, supervision, and enforcement; and effective implementation of penalties as provided by the Act on non-compliers regardless of their status in the society.